151 Band

Friday, June 18, 2010

Brogdon: "Palin's endorsement more about presidential bid."

State Senator Randy Brogdon fired back after hearing the news of Sarah Palin's endorsement of Congresswoman Mary Fallin in her bid for governor, saying;
"It's perplexing why Gov. Palin, a self described conservative, would endorse someone who supported the Wall Street Bailout and was key to adding hundreds of billions to the national debt. The simple truth is that an endorsement from Ronald Reagan himself wouldn't change the fact that Mary Fallin supports Big Government Bailouts and Pork Barrel Spending."
Here, Brogdon not only calls into question Fallin's conservatism, but takes a shot at the "sweetheart" of both the Tea Party movement and conservative Republicans in Oklahoma who waited in line for hours to get an autographed copy of her book while here a couple months ago. 

Brogdon continues his attack on Palin:
"It is obvious that Palin's endorsement is more about her bid for president in 2012 than supporting Oklahama's values of limited government and controled (sic) spending. I am seeking the approval of Oklahomans and not the Republican establishment."
Ouch.  Palin has not said whether or not she is going to run in 2012, but if she does, she'll receive tremendous support in Oklahoma for her candidacy - though she has not yet announced that she IS running.  Truth of the matter is that she probably will run and the question will be whether or not if she wins the nomination, will Brogdon support her after her endorsement of his opponent?

Senator Brogdon's campaign site is www.randybrogdon.com.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

What Palin Does for Fallin...

As reported earlier, former governor and Republican star Sarah Palin has endorsed Congresswoman Mary Fallin for Governor and sure enough, the firestorm has begun.  And it is intensely ironic that it comes on Randy Brogdon's birthday, amid the excitement of his birthday fundraising extravaganza. 

From Palin's endorsement:
Mary Fallin is another strong, smart conservative who I am proud to support. Mary is running for Governor of Oklahoma, and the Sooner State is fortunate to have her offer to serve in this new capacity. Mary’s another fiscal conservative with policy experience, political backbone, and real world knowledge that will serve the entire state well as she proves her mettle as Oklahoma’s next CEO. Her personal, professional, and political background gives her a healthy perspective on the challenges facing so many of our families and businesses. Mary truly understands public service, and she served her state with distinction in Congress and as the first Republican and first female lieutenant governor in Oklahoma history. Sharing the aforementioned foundational values of Cathy and Star and so many other Americans, Mary also understands the complexities of our domestic energy policy and has been a consistent voice for energy independence. Please visit Mary’s website at www.maryfallin.org and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Saturday Night Live has lampooned Palin numerous times and her approval rating continues to soar.  Like  Fallin, the more you attack her on ridiculous issues that are not relevant to the race at hand, the more people feel empathy for her and rally behind her.  Something the Brogdon campaign supporters have yet to learn. 

Palin is incredibly popular in Oklahoma, and this endorsement will stand out above others in the gubernatorial race.  People are just now starting to pay close attention to this race and they will continue to do so as the primary approaches.

Fallin Gets Palin Endorsement

Breaking news:

Congresswoman Mary Fallin has received the endorsement of none other than Sarah Palin.

This is a significant endorsement among all endorsements. 

Wow.

Expect a news release coming soon from the Fallin campaign!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

KOKH FOX 25 :: Top Stories

KOKH FOX 25 :: Top Stories

Askins Democrat's Best Chance Against Fallin

Sometimes, I get it right and sometimes, I fail miserably.  This time, however, I nailed it.  I have said all along that the best chance for the Democrats would be to nominate Lt. Governor Jari Askins.  According to a poll released from SoonerPoll:

SoonerPoll asked likely voters who they would vote for in a series of match ups and found that in a Governor race between the two leaders, Fallin and Edmondson, Fallin leads by a margin 15.6 points with 50.3 percent of respondent’s support, while 35 percent said they would vote for Edmondson.
Fallin also bests Askins in a one-on-one match up, but not by as large of a margin. Fallin gained 48.5 percent of respondent’s support while 36.2 percent said they would vote for Askins. This is a slight turn-around from the January and April polls that found Askins trailing Fallin by a larger margin than Edmondson.
“Since the primary campaign began in earnest, Edmondson’s lead over Askins has evaporated,” Keith Gaddie, Vice President of SoonerPoll, said. “There are still six weeks in the campaign, and the electorate is only now starting to really engage this contest. The expectations of a close Democratic primary are being borne out. However, the general election trial heats indicate a Republican year, though Rep. Fallin’s elect number continues to hover under 50 percent.”


Now, will the Democratic Party rally behind the will of their registered voters or will the party food chain continue to support Drew?

Cleveland County GOP Bans Harris

R. J. Harris, Republican opponent of Congressman Tom Cole has been banned from all Cleveland County GOP events because, apparently, he broke the rules regarding video taping segments of his speech during a recent Cleveland County event. 

Depending upon whom you speak with, the responses range from an outright travesty that Harris has been banned to relief because he was a bit of a trouble-maker.  Here is the email from the Cleveland County GOP Vice Chair:

RJ,
Due to your and your campaign's inability to follow simple rules set out by the Cleveland County GOP at last week's candidate forum, you will no longer be allowed to participate as a candidate in future Cleveland County GOP events. There was a large sign at the entrance of the event clearly stating that recording was not permitted inside the auditorium. In addition, this information was included in every email sent out by the county party pertaining to the event. Because videos of the event have miraculously found their way to your website and youtube page, you clearly condone such actions while being fully aware that you were breaking the rules. If the voters of Cleveland County can't trust you to honestly follow simple guidelines, I don't know how we can trust you to follow the constitution.


Tessa Breder
Cleveland County Republican Party Vice-Chairman
How this eventually plays out is anyone's guess, but the Harris campaign is hopping mad.  In my opinion (and I presume that is why you're reading this, to get my opinion), the rules are what they are - the County Chair decides what the rules of the game are to be at each of the functions and because previously folks have used video and taken candidate comments out of context, they banned the use of recording equipment.  Someone in the Harris camp chose to violate those rules and as they say, the rest is history.

The rule of unintended consequences, however, come into play here.  Harris hasn't polled so well and now, it could easily be spun by the Harris campaign that he is a serious contender and the party faithful are just trying to exclude him.

I'll keep you posted.  This one is going to get bloody.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Fallin Launches New Ad

Here is the newest Mary Fallin for Governor ad...

Leonard Scores Nickles' Endorsement

From the press release:

Oklahoma City, OK- Ryan Leonard is pleased to announce the endorsement of former Oklahoma U.S. Senator Don Nickles in the race for the Republican nomination for Oklahoma Attorney General. Leonard, a former state prosecutor in Canadian County, previously worked for four years as a senior aide to Nickles in Washington, D.C.. Senator Nickles today issued the following statement through the campaign:
"It is critical in 2010 that Oklahoma elect an Attorney General who will fight to protect our families, and has the passion and will to stand up for the Constitution in the face of unprecedented federal encroachment into our daily lives. I have known Ryan Leonard for 20 years, and know that he will provide the strong, principled and conservative leadership Oklahoma needs in this critically important office. I hope you will join me in supporting Ryan Leonard for Attorney General." Former U.S. Senator Don Nickles, Oklahoma (1981-2005)
For more information about Ryan Leonard's campaign for Attorney General, please visit www.RyanLeonard2010.com.
Looks like it's "endorsement week" for candidates.

What Constitutes "Experience?"

If you've been watching television, you've no doubt seen the multitude of campaign commercials that tout this candidate or that candidate's "experience."  One candidate says he has "courtroom experience" as an assistant district attorney, another calls himself a "small business owner."  Most people take the claims at face value and roll with the punches, as it were.  But that doesn't mean we should.

Most of the candidates running for public office right now have either had "experience" in the public sector - in other words, politicians who want to maintain a career in politics.  One candidate in particular has received government paychecks in one form or another most of his adult life, but claims he is a "successful small business owner."  Can you have it both ways?  I think not. 

Another candidate "took a break" from politics, but shortly thereafter jumped right back into the game when the time was right to run for office again.  I think we forget that many of the folks running for office right now are part of the problem we've faced in the past.  Republicans and Democrats alike have made some lofty promises and most have failed to keep those promises but we keep seeing the same crowd showing up at the trough of public payroll, don't we?

This is going to be a wildly different campaign cycle and voters are willing to more closely scrutinize the claims of candidates.  To me, it will be a refreshing "experience" for some of these candidates.

Harris, Straw Poll

HARRIS/STRAW POLL:  Still searching for all of the results from the Cleveland County Straw Poll, but got some clarification about the R.J. Harris/Tom Cole results.  According to Okie Pundit:

Tom Cole - 50%
R.J. Harris - 36%
Tom Cole won 50 to 36, which matches the 58% to 42% spread the RJ Harris campaign is circulating. The Harris campaign does seem quite content with what can only be described as another sign of their impending defeat.  ~ Okie Pundit
I now see how it could be proclaimed a "victory" of sorts.  In the middle of Cole Country, to get anything more than say, 10%, could be considered an emotional victory.  I agree with Okie Pundit, Cole is going to win this race by an exceptionally wide margin.

Monday, June 14, 2010

"Cletus" Still Missing

He was an abandoned dog, a huge puppy with a huge heart.  Some friends told us about him and we went out to get him.  He quickly won the hearts and minds of the whole household.  Unfortunately, my son decided to leave the gate open and he escaped yesterday evening.

He is a 14 month-old Rottweiler, wearing a brown and green camo collar.  He was last seen in the Kelly Park Addition of Edmond.  If you have seen him or know anyone who has seen him, please let me know.

We miss him and want him back home.  And yes, there is a reward.

Send me an email here.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Matt Pinnell, Guy For GOP Job

There will be a battle coming soon for the position of state party chair of the GOP and right now, there are two people who are named as potential front-runners:  Matt Pinnell and Steve Fair.  I consider both men to be good men, hard-working and committed to reshaping and focusing the GOP on issues of import to regular guys like me.

More and more people are hesitant to fly the GOP banner high because of accusations of corruption, candidates who are churned out by the same consultants with the same boilerplate message and no real experience.  Whether it be career politicians or potential candidates with the largest bank accounts, the GOP grassroots has been wondering just what the hell is going on?

I believe Matt Pinnell to be the guy to put the GOP ship back on course, and to return to the days when party leadership recruited candidates, not consultants.  He knows how the game is played and has assured me that he would speak out against some of the mess we have - such as people recruiting candidates against solid Republican statewide candidates like Dana Murphy.

Matt's history:
    •    Former campaign aide to Congressman Steve Largent, State Senator Scott Pruitt, and U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D.
    •      Worked under two State GOP Chairman: Tom Daxon and Gary Jones in the position of Director of Operations. In this role I helped the State Party raise unprecedented levels of contributions and worked with County Chairs across the state.
    •    Served as the "Oklahoma Victory" Director for the OKGOP for the McCain-Palin ticket, helping John McCain win 65.4% of the vote in OK, the highest percentage in the nation.
    •    Former Executive Director of American Majority-Oklahoma. Helped train literally thousands of activists and conducted dozens of candidate trainings across Oklahoma.
I think he would be a good man for the job, for what it's worth.

Flashback to Childhood

Early this morning, I had a conversation with a friend who just recently lost a loved one.  It was 2:00am, I couldn't sleep and he was clearly having difficulty wrapping his head around the loss of a family member.  We chatted about memories of those we have lost, we talked a little politics and then, we decided to continue the conversation after we had both had a chance to rest, gather some thoughts.

I slept in pretty late this morning, missing church and the primary reason is this incredible crud I'm fighting once again.  Doc prescribed me steroids, antibiotics and the usual mix of medications when fighting off pneumonia and a respiratory infection.  I turned on the television and what did I find?  My mother's favorite movie - Coal Miner's Daughter.

Ate a bit of lunch, then, while watching the movie and going through some of the news websites I frequent, I caught the aroma a beans and ham on the stove.  Coal Miner's Daughter on the television, beans and ham on the stove...I was immediately transported to my childhood, remember the sounds and smells of my home growing up.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

Elusive Straw Poll, Cleveland County

There have been murmurings about who may or may not have won some of the straw polls at the Cleveland County get-together last week, but actually finding those results have been less than easy to identify.

On Facebook, R.J. Harris (opponent to Tom Cole) claims victory as does State Senator Randy Brogdon.  But again, there are no results posted on the Cleveland County GOP website - which is pretty simple to use, but painfully difficult to read. 

So, if you find them, let me know.  There are a lot of people like myself who would like to read the results.